Libya gov't says former Gaddafi spokesman captured

TRIPOLI, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The former spokesman of Muammar Gaddafi’s government has been captured, exactly a year after the death of the Libyan dictator, the prime minister’s office said on Saturday.

Moussa Ibrahim, who was the mouthpiece of the Gaddafi regime during last year’s war, was caught in the town of Tarhouna, 70 km (40 miles) south of Tripoli.

“Moussa Ibrahim has been arrested by forces belonging to the Libyan government in the town of Tarhouna and he is being transferred to Tripoli to begin interrogation,” a statement from the prime minister’s office said.

Fluent in English, Ibrahim would hold regular press conferences in the luxury Tripoli hotel were journalists stayed during last year’s war.

His whereabouts have been unknown since the fall of Tripoli in August 2011 but there have been past reports of his capture.

Saturday marks one year since Gaddafi’s capture and death in his hometown Sirte, after he was caught hiding in a drain pipe. (Reporting by Ali Shuaib and Hadeel al-Shalchi; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Alison Williams and Sophie Hares)